


Doomsday Cancelled

by WeAreTheHurricane



Series: Falling Around A Sun [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Main Character Death, Series 3 rewrite, doomsday fix-it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-03
Updated: 2012-06-02
Packaged: 2017-11-06 16:55:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/421176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeAreTheHurricane/pseuds/WeAreTheHurricane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose never got sucked into Pete's World, Rose and the Doctor get together, but when their lives seem on a endless euphoria, something happens that will stay with them forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Flooded Tower

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! My name is Summer, and I posted this story on my fanfiction account over at fanfiction.net (we are the hurricane) and it gained lots of fame (133 reviews to date), so I decided to post it here! Please comment and kudo, as this story is very precious to me and I'd love for it to be just as loved as it is over at fanfiction.net.

It was over. My life has been pulled apart. The Doctor didn't say anything while he hugged me, I didn't think he could ever look me in the eye ever again. But I still loved him, the impossible man. I still cared for him.

I found myself walking over to the wall where the breach closed. I pressed my ear against it and tried to sense her. Back in the other universe, I know she would be doing that too.

All I needed right now was the Doctor, he was there, but I think he was so disgusted that he took away my parents that he couldn't help me. "Let's go home, Rose," was all he said, it was barely a whisper.

He is the only family I have left now.

.

.

.

.

.

It took him two weeks to find the star.

It was quite poetic that he killed a star just for me. The star that symbolises my last conversation with my mother, the last time I would ever see her. After that conversation, she will be just a memory. It will be sad to say goodbye to Mickey as well, after today, he will hopefully live a better life.

* * *

_"Mum"_

_I woke up suddenly that night, one word had haunted my nightmares. Mum. It had to be Rose, she was calling me._

_"Follow my voice, Mum"_

_So we did. We found ourselves in bloody Norway, mind you, but we followed the voice. We followed my baby. That was the day I died._

_"Mum"_

* * *

My mother turned around abruptly and saw me.

"Rose!"

"Mum!"

"God, you look like a ghost!"

"Doctor, can you fix that?" I turned to the Doctor and he sonic-ed the Tardis.

"That's better," Mum reached out to touch but the Doctor stopped her, "No touch," he said.

"How long has it been in your world?" I asked.

"6 months. Yours?"

"2 weeks."

"I will kill that man! Why is it that I always have to take the slow path?"

"I'm sorry, Mum,"

She started crying as soon as I said that. "I feel awful. I'll never see your 22nd birthday or any others, and I'll never see you and the Doctor get married!"

"Mum," I said in a whiny voice, "we are not a couple!"

"Sure, Rose."

I looked at the Doctor. He seemed flabbergasted, and I couldn't help but laugh at him. "What?" he said.

"Your face!"

"Oi, how much time do we have left?" my Mum asked. The Doctor stepped in.

"You have two minutes left."

"I will kill you."

"Sure, Jackie, sure."

"Mum, I love you."

"I have something to tell you. Pete and I got married, again, and, I'm pregnant!"

"What?"

"I know! It's a boy! We're gonna call him Tony."

"Mum, wow! That's amazing!"

"And Mickey is the god-father."

"Where is Mickey?"

"Right here."

Mickey stepped into the picture. He looked so much better than I had last saw him, in Canary Wharf. He was wearing different clothes, he'd shaved and he looked altogether so much happier. "I have a girlfriend now, Rose," he said, in answer to my look at him.

"Thirty seconds, Rose," the Doctor said.

"Mum, Mickey, I love you and I will miss you so much." Tears came and I couldn't hold them in.

"I love you too, Rose," Mickey said.

"I love you, Rose, and I will miss you, and Doctor!" The Doctor turned to Jackie.

"Yeah?"

"Take care of Rose."

She faded away, and our time ended. 


	2. Snappy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First chapter of The Runaway Bride.

"What?"

The Doctor was puzzled as he saw the weird scene in front of him. "What?"

"Who are you?"

"What?"

"Where am I?"

"What?"

"What the hell is this place?"

"What?"

"You can't do that. I wasn't... we're in flight, that's physically impossible. How did-"

"Tell me where I am. I demand that you tell me right now where am I!" The bride was angry (as anyone would be) and looked like she could rip the Doctor to shreds any second.

I stepped up and said "You're in the Tardis."

"The what?"

"The Tardis," the Doctor repeated.

"The what?"

"It's called the Tardis," the Doctor looked really angry now.

"That's not even a proper word. You're just saying things!"

"How did you get in here?" the Doctor asked. As the pair were arguing, I went over to the screen. It showed the outside of the Tardis, and the supernova. I had no idea how the bride got there, but, I knew, we were headed for another adventure.

As I turned around, I saw the bride heading for the Tardis doors. "Doctor!" I yelled.

But, the bride had already opened the doors. I ran after her and saw the look on her face.

"You're in space," I said, "Outer space, and this is the Doctor's spaceship. It's called the Tardis."

"How am I breathing?"

"I'll leave that to the Doctor to answer, I still don't know how it works."

The Doctor walked up and said, "All you need to know is that the Tardis is protecting you."

"Who are you two?" the bride asked.

"I'm Rose, this is the Doctor, you?"

"Donna."

"Human?" asked the Doctor.

"Is that optional?"

"It is with me."

After a sigh, she said, "You're an alien." The Doctor knew it wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

After an awkward pause, she said, "It's freezing with these doors open." The Doctor closed the doors and ran back up to the console. After he saw the tear tracks on my face, he said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He nodded and got back to work.

"I don't understand it and I understand everything. This can't happen. There's no way that a human being can lock itself on to the Tardis and transport inside. It must be..." he picked out a tool and looked at Donna's eyes through it. "There's some sort of subatomic connection, something in the temporal field. Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the chorion shell, maybe it's something macro budding your DNA with the inner matrix. Maybe a genetic..." I could see what was going to happen before it happened. Donna slapped the Doctor. I couldn't help but giggle.

"What was that for?" he sounded so shocked.

"GET ME TO THE CHURCH!"

"Right, fine, we don't want you here anyway, don't we Rose? Where is this wedding?"

"St Mary's, Haven Road, Chiswick, London, Earth, The Solar System."

"Right, Chiswick!"


	3. Travelling And Talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter of the Runaway Bride.

Donna left the Tardis, closely followed by me and the Doctor. "I said St Marys! What kind of Martian are you?"

The Doctor didn't listen to Donna, he just was stroking the Tardis. I felt a big surge of jealousy. "Stop it," I told myself in my head, "You're being stupid."

"There's something wrong with her," the Doctor said, "It's like she's recalibrating. She's digesting. What is it? What have you eaten? What's wrong?" I laughed at him, then I realised, I shouldn't be laughing yet.

"Donna, you've really got to think is there anything that might have caused this?" he said, still in the Tardis, "Anything you might have done? Any sort of alien contacts? I meant have you seen lights in the sky, or did you touch something, like something different? Who are you getting married to? Are you sure he's human? He's not a bit overweight with a zip round his forehead is he?"

But then I realised what was happening. I should have noticed before. It was the exact same thing that I did when I went into the Tardis. Donna realised it was bigger on the inside. She started running for it.

"Doctor!" I cried, before running off to get Donna. When I reached her I said, "Come on Donna, come back to the Tardis."

"No, that box is just to weird. I just want to get married."

The Doctor came up and said, "It's just bigger on the inside, Donna."

"Just?" Donna's face looked really afraid, like she had seen a ghost.

"Not helping," I told him, "Just let me do the talking, human to human." I pulled Donna aside and said, "Look, I know the box is weird, but, I'm just like you. I'm a human, I was born here and all my family..." As soon as I remembered family, I got caught up in a world of sadness and sorrow.

"Well, then you know all I'm going through. Ten past 3, I'm gonna miss it!"

"I've got a mobile, you can call them," I handed her my mobile and she called someone.

"Mum, I'm here, I'm in, hang on, I don't know where I am! Look, there's a telephone booth and a shopping centre, and a A.T.M, but it's definitely Earth, London, whatever. Just pick up the phone!" She hung up after a minute of waiting and handed back the phone. "I'm going to miss it."

I hugged her and said, "Let's find a taxi. We can get you to the wedding as soon as we can."

"Thanks Rose."

"No problem. I know first hand how frustrating it is to cope with the Doctor."

She chuckled and said, "Are you two, you know, an item?"

"Na," then I whispered to her, "I wish." That's the truth. Finally, I've admittedly that I'm in love with the Doctor.

"Oh. Well, hopefully, you can be together in the future."

"Thanks Donna. We should find you that taxi." We walked back to the Doctor. "So, the man you are marrying, what's his name?"

"Lance," she said in a dreamy voice.

"Good luck Lance," the Doctor muttered under his breath.

"That didn't help, Doctor,"

"Sorry. To good an opportunity to miss."

"To hell with you!" Donna finally lost it and ran off. We ran after her.

"Hey!" I tried to flag down a taxi but had no hope. Donna kept getting insults thrown at her.

"Hold on," said the Doctor, and whistled to get a taxi to come and get them. One taxi stopped by them and they jumped in.

"St Marys, Haven Road, Chiswick, hurry up!"

"Sure, but it's double today, love."

"Oh my god, I have no money, you Doctor?"

"Nope, Rose?"

I riffled through my wallet and found... nothing. Shit. "No, nothing, sorry."

We got kicked out of the cab quite quickly and there was a bit of nuisance and we saw the robot Santas from last year. No kidding. Long story short, Donna got another cab... where one of the robot Santas was driving. "Donna!" I screamed and started to run after her, but the Doctor pulled me back.

"Let's go to the TARDIS, yeah?" he asked, and we ran there. He got the TARDIS to fly after the car. "Hold onto that button there," he said, and I held on, while he ran to the door. We flew with the car, and after a while, the Doctor got Donna out. Phew.

He took the TARDIS to the church where Donna was having her wedding. "They're not here," Donna said, trying not to cry, "where could they be?" I looked around. No red heads for the eye to see.

"Maybe the reception?" I said.

"It's just down the road, let's check."

We started to walk in the direction Donna had pointed out. "Did we miss it?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Maybe you can book another date. Maybe next Christmas."

"Of course we can."

"Still got the honeymoon," the Doctor said to try and cheer her up.

"It's just a holiday now."

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Donna looked like she meant it.

"Well, that's a change!" The Doctor laughed.

"I wish you had a time machine. Then we could go and get it right!"

I butted in and said, "Yeah, it would be awesome if we did!"

The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket and said, "Here, wear this." It was a ring.

"Oh, don't rub it in," Donna exclaimed.

"It's a Bio-Damper, it will help you so the robots won't see you. With these ring, I thee bio-damp."

"So, come on, robot santas, what are they for?"

"Oh, the basic robo-scavenger," The Doctor replied, "The Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. Trying to blend in."

"I met them last Christmas."

"Why?" asked Donna, "What happened then?"

The Doctor and I shared glances and then I said, "Great big spaceship, hovering over London, weren't you there?"

"I had a bit of a hangover."

"We spent Christmas over at the Powell Estate. With my mum and my best friend. They're... gone now." The Doctor put his arm around me as we walked along.

"The question is, what do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you?" The Doctor asked then he reached into one of his jacket pockets to find his sonic screwdriver. "And how did you get inside the Tardis, I don't know. What's your job?" He said using his sonic screwdriver.

"I'm a secretary."

"Weird, I mean you're not special, you're not powerful, you're not connected, you're not clever-"

"Rose, last time he saw your mother, did she punch him in the face? Stop bleeping me!" I laughed as she pushed the Doctor's hand away.

"What kind of secretary?"

I'm at H.C Clements. It's where I met Lance. I was temping," Donna said, lost in her own thoughts, "I mean, it was all posh really. I had spent the last two years at a double glazing firm. Well, I thought, I'm never gonna fit in here, and then he made me a coffee. I mean, that just doesn't happen, nobody makes the secretary coffee. And Lance, he's the head of H.R, he doesn't need to bother with me, but he was nice, he was funny, and it turns out he thought the others were snotty too. So that's how it started, me and him, just one cup of coffee was it."

"When was this?"

"Six months ago."

"A bit quick to get married."

"Well, he insisted. And he nagged and he nagged me and he just wore me down until finally, I just gave in."

"What does H.C Clements do?"

"Oh, security systems, you know, entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. If you ask me, that's just a posh name for locksmith."

"Keys..."

"Anyway, enough of my CV. It's time to face the consequences. Oh, this is going to be so shaming." She turned to the Doctor and said, "You can do the explaining, Martian Boy."

"I'm not from Mars."

We were at the reception now and we walked in, Donna in front.

"You had the reception without me."

Lance came up and said "Donna, where were you?"

"You had the reception without me."

"It was all painful, so why not?"

"Thank you, Nerys."

The Doctor spoke up, "Hi, I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose." I waved at them.

Donna turned to us and said, "They had the reception without me."

"Yes, I can see."

"Well, I got your messages," a woman who looked like Donna's mother said, "I'm on Earth, very funny. Where the hell were you?" And then all hell broke loose, as everyone was talking at once. Then Donna started crying. "Oh," said her mother then she came and gave Donna a hug. Donna turned to us and winked.

"She's good," the Doctor whispered to me.

"Tell me about it."

"Do you want to dance?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, okay. The Doctor can dance?" I said, making fun of the time that we met Jack and the Doctor said he could dance.

"Yes, I can, Rose."

We walked over to a spot in the reception area and started dancing.

"So, H.C Clements, what have you found out?"

"I used someone's phone to check who they are, and you're not gonna like it."

"Who?" I already had a bad feeling about it.

"Torchwood."

"Oh." I felt it was too early to be dealing with Torchwood. "So, what are we going to do?"

"First, lets look at the wedding video."

"Okay."

"Well, I taped the whole thing," the cameraman said, "They've all had a look. They said, sell it to You've Been Framed, I said more like the news." He played the video. Donna was walking down the aisle when suddenly she screamed and disappeared, leaving only golden dust in the air where she was standing.

"No, can't be, play it again. That looks like Huon particles."

"What's Huon particles?" I asked.

"That's impossible, that's ancient. Huon energy doesn't exist anymore, not for billions of years. So old that... It can't be hidden by a bio-damper!"

We ran over to the windows to find the robot santas had surrounded the hotel. They then ran back to Donna and the Doctor said, "Donna, they've found you."

"But you said I was safe."

"The bio-damper doesn't work," I said.

"We've got to get everyone out," The Doctor said.

"But, they've surrounded the hotel!"

"Good point."

"Oh, God. It's all my family," Donna said.

"Hold on," The Doctor said, "there's something I'm missing, something important."

I looked around and saw a Christmas tree. "Christmas trees..."

The Doctor realised what I was talking about and said, "They kill!"


	4. Torchwood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third chapter of the Runaway Bride.

"GET AWAY FROM THE TREE!"

The Doctor, Donna and I started to clear the area around the tree.

"What are you going on about?" Donna's mother said, "It's only a Christmas tree- Oh."

Christmas baubles were rising into the air, and everyone was in awe. Then, the baubles started coming down on the guests, coming down as bombs. "Can you stop it any way?" I said, my voice sounding unusually calm.

"Yeah, but it won't stop the robots. But, block your ears. Tell everyone you can to block their ears." The Doctor stood up and walked over to the sound system. "Hey Santa! Word of advice: if you're attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver, don't let him near the sound system. Suddenly, a extremely loud sound that sounded like the sonic screwdriver went over the speakers, causing everyone to cover their ears. The noise was so loud that the robots fell apart. The Doctor stopped and walked over to me. "Okay?"

"Yeah." He helped me up and we went to the robots. Donna soon joined us.

"Look at that- the remote control for the decorations! But there's a second remote control for the robots. They're not scavengers any more. I think someone's taken possession."

"Never mind that," Donna said, "You're a doctor- people have been hurt."

"Nah, they wanted you alive, look," he threw her a bauble bomb, "they're not active now."

"All I'm saying, you could help."

"Na, gotta think of the bigger picture." He held the robot head to his ear and said, "There's still a signal!" He ran out the door, me closely following. Outside, he soniced the robot's head.

"There's someone behind this, directing the Robo-Force," he explained as Donna joined them.

"But why is it me, what have I done?" she asked.

"If we find the controller, we'll find that out. Oh!" he pointed the sonic from the head to the sky. "It's up there. Something in the sky."

Donna went to Lance, while I stayed with the Doctor. "You're awfully calm," he said.

"I know."

"Is it an act."

"Not really."

"Rose," he said, looking me in the eye now, "You're mother wanted me to protect you, so here I am. I will always be there for you, even if you don't know it. Please remember that." I nodded and he pulled me into a hug.

After a while, he went back to pinpointing the signal. "Oh no no no no no no no!" he suddenly cried.

"What?" I cried.

"It's gone. I lost the signal. Donna," he shouted, "we've got to get to your office, H C Clements. I think that's where it all started. Lance- is it Lance? Can you give us a lift?"

.  
.  
.  
.  
.

H.C Clements. I feel sick already. It's only been two weeks and I am getting into Torchwood's business again. The Doctor looks down at me and sees my look of disgust.

"Rose," he says, "We will beat them this time. I won't let them get you."

"Thanks Doctor, but I still can't exactly like them. They took mum away from me!"

"I know. But, let's just see what's going on."

"Okay."

We walked into the building and into Donna's office. The Doctor goes straight to a computer.

"This might just be a locksmiths, but H.C Clements was brought up twenty-three years ago by the Torchwood Institute."

"Who were they?" Donna asks.

"They were behind the battle of Canary Wharf."

Donna was just silent, like she didn't know what he meant.

"The Cybermen invasion," I say, "Skies over London full of Daleks?"

"I was in Spain."

The Doctor and I exchanged glances. "They had Cybermen in Spain," The Doctor says.

"Scuba diving."

"That big picture, Donna, you keep on missing it. Torchwood was destroyed, but H.C Clements stayed in business. I think someone else came in and took over the operation."

"But what do they want with me?"

The Doctor gave Donna his full attention. "Somehow you've been dosed with Huon energy. And that's a problem because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the Tardis. See? That's what happened. Say... that's the Tardis," he says picking up a mug, "And that's you," he says while picking up a pencil. "The particles inside you activated. The two sets of particles magnetised and WHAM!" He throws the pencil in the mug, "You were pulled inside the Tardis."

"I'm a pencil inside a mug?"

"Yes you are. Sums you up. Lance? What was H.C Clements working on? Anything top secret? Special Operations? Do not enter?"

"I don't know, I'm in charge of personnel. I wasn't project manager. Why am I even explaining myself? What the hell are we talking about?"

"They make keys, that's the point," The Doctor said, brushing him off, "And look at this," he says pointing to a 3D plan of the building, "We're on the third floor." He ran to the lift and says, "Underneath reception, there's a basement, yes?" He looks at the controls and says, "Then how come when you look on the lift, there's a button marked 'lower basement'? There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans. So what's down there, then?

"Are you telling me this building's got a secret floor?" Lance asks.

"No, he's showing you this building's got a secret floor," I say.

"It needs a key," Donna says.

"I don't" The Doctor sonics the lock and steps into the lift. "Right then, thanks you two, Rose and I can handle this, see you later."

"No chance, Martian. You're the man who keeps saving my life, I ain't letting you out of my sight. Lance!"

"Maybe I should go to the police?"

"Inside!"

"To honour and obey?" The Doctor says.

"Being rude again," I point out.

"Tell me about it mate," Lance replies to the doctor.

"OI!"

"Where are we? Well, what goes on down here?"

"Let's find out..."

We walk along the tunnel. "Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this?"

"The mysterious H.C Clements? I think he's part of it. Ooh, transport!"

There were four identical scooter trundle like things standing near us. The Doctor walked towards them and started to get on one. "Come on you three, we haven't got all day." I ran on and got on one and Donna approached more slower. Lance just stood still.

"Lance, if you can put up with Donna, you can put up with these," The Doctor says.

"OI!"

"Sorry."

We came to a door which said Torchwood. I shiver a bit and are reluctant to get off the scooter. Stop it Rose, I think, you've seen worse than just a door with Torchwood on it. The Doctor opens the door to reveal a ladder. He peers upwards.

"Wait here. Just need to get my bearings. Don't do anything. Donna, make sure Rose doesn't do anything, she has a bad record of running away."

"OI!" It's funny to hear that word come out of my mouth.

"It's true!" He starts up the ladder before I can slap him.

"You'd better come back."

"I couldn't get rid of you, Rose, if I tried."

Lance turns to Donna and says, "Donna, have you thought about this? Properly? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we going to do?"

Donna turned around to Lance and says, not that interested, "Oh, I thought July."

"Thames flood barrier! Right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath."

"What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?"

"Just like Canary Wharf."

We walked to another door, which housed some kind of laboratory, full of massive test tubes bubbling away and chemistry equipment.

"Oh look at this! Stunning! Particle extrusion!"

"What does it do?"

"Particle extrusion. Hold on," he picks up on of the smaller tubes, "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. In case my people got rid of Huons, they unravelled the atomic structure."

"Your people?" Lance asks, "Who are they? What company do you two represent?"

"Oh, I'm a freelancer. But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result- Huon particles in liquid form."

"And that's what's inside Donna?" I ask. The Doctor turns the knob at the top of the tube and Donna lights up.

"Oh my god!"

"Because the particles are inert- they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then... HA!" Donna jumped back in surprise. "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle, oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, wham go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM!"

Donna slapped him.

Reminds me too much of mum.

"What did I do this time?"

"Are you enjoying this?"

The Doctor relaxes and Donna says, "Right, just tell me, these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"

"Yeah!" The Doctor says unconvincingly.

"Doctor, if the Time Lords got rid of Huon particles... why did they do that?" I said.

"Because they were deadly."

"Oh my god!" Donna said.

"I'll sort it out, Donna. Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. I'm not about to lose someone else."

"Oh, she is long since lost!"


	5. Racnoss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourth and final chapter of The Runaway Bride.

"I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe, until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"

The doors opened to a huge chamber with a hole right in the middle of it. "Someone's been digging, oh, very Torchwood," I shivered at the name, "Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?"

"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!"

"Really?" The Doctor asked. "Seriously? What for?"

"Dinosaurs!" Donna said.

"What?" I asked.

"Dinosaurs?"

"What are you on about, dinosaurs?" The Doctor asked.

"That film, under the Earth, with dinosaurs. Trying to help!"

"That's not helping."

"Such a sweet couple."

"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?"

"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas night."

"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!"

"Who are you with such command?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man, for you will be sick at heart!"

Suddenly, a humongous red spider teleported into the chamber. "The Racnoss, but that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"

"Empress of the Racnoss!"

"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or, are you the only one?"

"Such a sharp mind."

"That's it, the last of your kind." The Doctor turned to Donna and me and continued, "The Racnoss come from the Dark times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets."

"They eat people?" Donna asked.

"H.C Clements, did he wear those, those, erm, black and white shoes?"

"He did! We used to laugh, we use to call him the fat cat in spats!"

The Doctor nodded and points to a web on the ceiling, where a pair of black and white shoes are hanging. "Oh my god!"

"Mm, my Christmas dinner."

"You shouldn't even exist! Way back in history, the Fledging Empires went to war against the Racnoss, they were wiped out!"

Lance suddenly appears behind the Racnoss with an axe. He motioned for Donna to be silent and steadily moves forward. And I thought he was a little thick.

"Except for me."

"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing. Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How come I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me!"

"The bride is so feisty!"

"Yes I am! And I don't know what you are, you big... thing. But a spider's just a spider, and an axe is just an axe! Now, do it!"

Lance holds the axe above his head and the Empress swings around and hisses at him, then he stops. He glances around at Donna and starts to laugh and the Empress laughs with him.

"That was a good one. Your face!"

"Lance is funny!"

Oh.

"What?"

"I'm sorry." I say.

"Sorry for what? Lance don't be so stupid! Get her!"

"God, she's thick!" Lance says. "Months I had to put up with her. Months! A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."

"I don't understand."

"How did you meet him?" I ask, reassuringly.

"In the office."

"He made you coffee." The Doctor said.

"What?"

"Everyday," Lance said, as though he was addressing an idiot, "I made you coffee."

"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months." The Doctor said.

"He was poisoning me?"

"It was all there in the job title- the Head of Human Resources."

"This time, it's personnel!" He says making a joke out of it. He and the Empress laugh.

"But, we were getting married."

"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap, "oh, Brad and Angelina; is Posh pregnant?" X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal."

"Oh, is that what she's offered you?" I say, "The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you? Her consort?"

"It's better than a night with her."

"But, I love you!"

"That's what made it easy. It's like you said, Doctor, the big picture, what's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"

"Who is this little physician?"

"What she said, Martian."

"Oh, I'm sort of, homeless. But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"

"I think he wants us to talk." Lance said, mockingly.

"I think so too."

"Well tough! All we need is Donna!"

"Kill this chattering little Doctor-man and his pink and yellow companion!"

"Don't you hurt them!" Donna says while stepping in front of us.

"No, no, it's all right."

"No, I won't let them!"

"At arms!" Dozens of robots on the edges of the walls point their guns at us.

"Ah, now. Except-"

"Take aim!"

"Well, I just want to point out the obvious-"

"They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots."

"Just, just, hold on, just a tick, just a tiny, just a little tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it, the spaceship comes to her." The Doctor turned the knob on the tube of Huon particles and suddenly, we were in the Tardis.

"Off we go!"

"Oh, you know what Rose said before about having a time machine. Well, we have one. And now, we're going to use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Rose, we're going further back than we've ever been before."

Donna was sitting on the captain's chair silently crying, with me comforting her. "It's okay," I say, "It's all going to be okay."

"We're arrived, want to see Donna?"

"I suppose."

"Oh, that scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best. Come on." I walk to the door and Donna comes with me. "No human's ever seen this. You two will be the first!"

"All I want to see is my bed.

"Rose Tyler, Donna Noble- welcome to the creation of the Earth." He opened the doors to a magnificent sight. There was rock everywhere and colourful gases all around the sky. "It's beautiful!"

"We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn.

"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked.

"All around us, in the dust."

"Puts the wedding into perspective. Lance was right. We're just... tiny!"

"No, but that's what you do! The human race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only it it's being observed."

"So, Donna and I came out of all this?"

"Isn't that brilliant?" A massive chunk of rock floats past the Tardis. "I think that's the Isle of Wight." Donna jokes. The Doctor and I laugh.

"Eventually gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the-"

"Earth," I say, interrupting him.

"But the question is, what was that first rock?" Right on queue, a star shaped rock emerges through the gas clouds. "Look!" I say.

"The Racnoss." The Doctor rushes back to the console. "Hold on, the Racnoss are hiding from the war! What's it doing?" Suddenly, all the rocks and dust and gas are all zooming towards the Racnoss's ship. "Exactly what you said." Donna replies. The Doctor runs back to the door.

"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth, they became the centre of the Earth. The first rock."

The Tardis suddenly shudders violently and we are nearly knocked off our feet. "What's was that? What's wrong with her?" I ask.

"Trouble!"

"What the hell is it doing?"

"Remember that little trick I pulled, particles pulling particles. It works in reverse, they're pulling us back!"

"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?"

"Backseat driver. Oh! Wait a minute!" He gets the extrapolator from underneath the console. "The extrapolator! Good old Jack. Can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump! Now!"

We land in one of the Torchwood corridors. "We're about 200 yards to the right. Come on!" We run down the corridor until we reach the door that has the ladder leading up to the Thames.

"But what do we do?"

"I don't know! I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history." He grabs his stethoscope and puts it against the door, listening for something.

"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles, but what for?"

"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck. They've just been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet!"

I turn around to find that Donna isn't there. "Donna!"

"We'll find her later, I need to get this door open." He opens the door to find two robots waiting. He sonics them and they fall to the ground. "Good one!" I say.

"Put on the cloak and the mask. We need to find Donna."

"This isn't going to work!" I tell the Doctor.

"I don't need it to."

We walk up some stairs and across a platform. Donna is hanging from the ceiling in a web while the Empress talks to her. "My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them!" She then turns to us and says, "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor-man and his puny human."

We tear the cloak and the mask off. "Oh well, nice try. I've got you Donna." He sonics the web and it starts to loosen and tear.

"I'm gonna fall!"

"You're gonna swing!"

"And it's not gonna work!" I say. Donna swings towards us.

"I've got ya!" The Doctor says, but Donna goes right underneath us. "Told ya." I point out.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Thanks for nothing."

"The doctor-man amuses me."

"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now."

"These men are so funny."

"What's your answer?"

"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline." She laughs and the Doctor says, "What happens next is your own doing."

"I'll show you what happens next. At arms!" The robots raise their guns. "Take aim, and-"

"Relax." All the robots go limp.

"What did you do?" Donna asks.

"Guess what I've got, Donna? Pockets."

"How did that fit in there?"

"They're bigger on the inside."

"Robo-forms are not necessary. My children may feast of Martian flesh."

"Oh, but I'm not from Mars."

"Then where?"

"My home planet is long since gone. But it's name lives on. Gallifrey."

The Racnoss suddenly becomes full of anger. "They murdered the Racnoss!"

"I warned you. You did this." He produces a handful of baubles and throws them into the air. Some surround the Empress and some smash into the walls of the corridor, destroying them and letting water from the Thames rush through in torrents. Another bauble explodes causing a fire at the Empress' feet. She wails as water floods into the chamber and down the hole.

"My children!" The Empress screams. "No! My children! My children!" The Doctor stood still in silence, looking like he didn't want to leave.

"Doctor! You can stop now!" I scream.

He finally gets out of his trance and says, "Come on! Time I got you two out!" As we leave, the Empress says "Transport me!" and she disappears.

We climb up the ladder. "But what about the Empress?" Donna asks.

"She's used up all her Huon energy, she's defenceless!"

"Just, there's one problem." I say.

"What that?"

"We've drained the Thames!"

"There you go. Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything!"

We're on Chiswick Street near Donna's house. "More than I've done." Donna says.

"Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."

"Yeah, but apart from that... I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."

"I couldn't save him."

"He deserved it..." Donna says unfeelingly then she changes her mind. "No, he didn't... I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."

"Best Christmas present they could have." We watch as Donna's parents embrace each other.

"Oh no, I forget, you hate Christmas."

"Yes, I do."

"Even if it snows?" The Doctor sonics the Tardis and a ball of light shoots out of the top and explodes like a firework in the sky into softly falling snow. I laugh with delight.

"I can't believe you can do that!" I say.

"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation." The Doctor looks down at me and grins.

"Merry Christmas you two." Donna says.

"And you too. So... what will you do with yourself now?"

"Not getting married for starters. And I'm not gonna temp any more. I dunno... travel, see a bit more of planet Earth, walk in the dust. Just, go out there and do something."

"Well you could come with us, if it's fine with the Doctor."

"No."

"Okay."

"I can't..."

"No, that's fine."

"No, but really, everything we did today, do you live your life like that?"

"Not all the time."

"I think you do. And I couldn't"

"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful."

"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you two stood there like, I don't know, strangers. And then you made it snow, I mean, you scared me to death!"

After a short silence, the Doctor said, "Well then."

"Tell you what I will do though, Christmas dinner. Oh, come on!"

"We don't do that sort of thing."

"You did it last year, you two said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty."

"Sorry Donna, but this year, we, we just want to be alone."

"Is this goodbye then? Will I see you again?"

"If we're lucky."

"Goodbye Doctor, Rose. Take care of yourselves."

"Goodbye Donna."

We step into the Tardis and fly away.


End file.
